David Martin: “It’s about getting the best people through the door”

David Martin is a corporate mergers and acquisitions partner at the Magic Circle law firm, Llinklaters, and also the company’s global head of diversity. David grew up in Pembrokeshire in south west Wales, one of the country’s poorest regions, and so his story of becoming a lawyer highlights perfectly the benefits of positive social mobility. He’s tasked with figuring out how to make one of the most socially exclusive careers historically into one that is inclusive. He says his firm is changing conventional perception, with a number of its young lawyers coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. In this fascinating conversation, David explains the specific measures he’s taking to encourage diversity. Highlighting the benefits of these measures, he explains how the company’s reverse mentoring scheme allowed him to experience the firm through the eyes of a visually impaired employee – the direct result of this led him to changing the office environment to improve her quality of life. Success for David is to see companies no longer needing diversity and inclusion schemes, and he says that’s the future he’s working towards.

Your host is Tunde Banjoko OBE, founder of Making The Leap.